"Striking" Glass

d

 Here's an early shot of the triptych in process. What you see appears to be blue glass but if I process it correctly in the kiln it will "strike" violet. SO Awesome! (I was going to say, so 'cool' but .... cool is a relative term in the world of fused glass!)

Striker glass is a glass that when heated properly will shift color. If I don't process it correctly it will remain blue but might also develop some brown spots! YUCK!

According to Bullseye glass, "Some gold-bearing striking glasses, like this one, should be fired with a 2 hour hold at 1225°F during the initial stages of the firing cycle. If fired without this hold, they may not strike at all, or they may strike but appear spotty and have a blue-brown cast, as opposed to the desired target color. Know Your Gold Hold."

I'm going to do a test run first to see if I can get the color I am looking for, while continuing to cut my pieces.  

If you look closely at the photo you'll see numbers and initials. The initials represent the color of glass and the numbers allow me accurate placement of each piece (matching with he master pattern.) SB means Sky Blue, PB= Peacock Blue.....etc.

I'm about 25% complete in terms of getting all the pieces cut out. I'll have a bit of grinding and then cleaning to do ... and then there is placing the border on each piece before each piece goes into the kiln separately.  More about the border later!